Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (May 03/01) - NorthwesTel employees may strike after conciliation talks broke down earlier this week.

"It looks like (a strike) right now," said IBEW union local 1574 business manager Ernest Ness.

NorthwesTel spokeswoman Anne Grainger would not give details on the NorthwesTel offer.

"It's up to the union to indicate to us what their decisions are," she said.

NorthwesTel employees, without a contract since last December, gave their union an 87.5 per cent strike mandate on April 11. The last time NorthwesTel employees went on strike was in the late 1970s.

"We do have processes in place to deal with meeting certain customer demands if there is a work stoppage," said Grainger.

Employees affected are those who run the toll, technical and clerical divisions of NorthwesTel. A strike must wait until after a cooling off period, meaning it can't be called until May 24.